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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, April 2005, p. 1391-1396, Vol. 49, No. 4
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.4.1391-1396.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Phototargeting Oral Black-Pigmented Bacteria

Nikolaos S. Soukos,1* Sovanda Som,1 Abraham D. Abernethy,1 Karriann Ruggiero,1 Joshua Dunham,1 Chul Lee,2 Apostolos G. Doukas,3 and J. Max Goodson4

Applied Molecular Photomedicine Laboratory,1 Clinical Collaborative, The Forsyth Institute,4 Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts,3 Division of Human Nutrition, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas2

Received 31 August 2004/ Returned for modification 23 November 2004/ Accepted 26 December 2004

We have found that broadband light (380 to 520 nm) rapidly and selectively kills oral black-pigmented bacteria (BPB) in pure cultures and in dental plaque samples obtained from human subjects with chronic periodontitis. We hypothesize that this killing effect is a result of light excitation of their endogenous porphyrins. Cultures of Prevotella intermedia and P. nigrescens were killed by 4.2 J/cm2, whereas P. melaninogenica required 21 J/cm2. Exposure to light with a fluence of 42 J/cm2 produced 99% killing of P. gingivalis. High-performance liquid chromatography demonstrated the presence of various amounts of different porphyrin molecules in BPB. The amounts of endogenous porphyrin in BPB were 267 (P. intermedia), 47 (P. nigrescens), 41 (P. melaninogenica), and 2.2 (P. gingivalis) ng/mg. Analysis of bacteria in dental plaque samples by DNA-DNA hybridization for 40 taxa before and after phototherapy showed that the growth of the four BPB was decreased by 2 and 3 times after irradiation at energy fluences of 4.2 and 21 J/cm2, respectively, whereas the growth of the remaining 36 microorganisms was decreased by 1.5 times at both energy fluences. The present study suggests that intraoral light exposure may be used to control BPB growth and possibly benefit patients with periodontal disease.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Applied Molecular Photomedicine Laboratory, The Forsyth Institute, 140 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 892-8467. Fax: (617) 892-8290. E-mail: nsoukos{at}forsyth.org.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, April 2005, p. 1391-1396, Vol. 49, No. 4
0066-4804/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.49.4.1391-1396.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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